68 comments:

I find it interesting that I don't disagree with any position that Obama has stated.Could it be that he hasn't stated any position?I think so; and I'm beginning to believe that this guy is an empty suit.He must have majored in Public Speaking 101, and received an A.Whew...

Makes you want to just pinch his cheek and set him down for some homemade pie and a tall glass of cold milk. And then ask him what he wants to be some day when he grows up and isn't quite so wet behind his ears.

BHO's ad is a good one and his voice is quite good, commanding and engaging too. Note that no one was thrown under a bus in this ad; fascinating.

However, I've seen his debate performances and when he's spoken off the cuff and in both such situations he seemed inarticulate, many "ums" and "ahs," creating an impression, to me at least, that he doesn't understand the topics at hand.

So, I don't know if he's an empty suit or just has little understanding of the issues facing this country. Yet, when delivering a prepared speech, he has a commanding presence and does quite well.

Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (the e was added later) was born April 2, 1939 in Washington D.C. His father was a preacher with the obscure House of God and the two often clashed. He had a brother Frankie and sisters jeanne and Zeola (Sweetsie). Gaye was three years old when he began singing in his father's church choir and was soon playing the organ and drums, too. Gaye returned to his hometown of Washington, D.C. and started signing in streetcorner doo wop group The Rainbows.. In 1957 he formed his own group the Marquees. Backed by Bo Diddley, they recorded "Wyatt Earp" for the Okeh label. In 1958, Harvey Fuqua hired the Marquees to be the latest version of the Moonglows, his backing group. However the group soon broke up and Fuqua moved to Detroit to form Tri-Phi Records with his girlfriend Gwen Gordy, bringing Marvin with them.

Patm, I always thought talk radio hosts were a subset of Right Wing pundits. Why, pray tell, would you automatically think I'm referring to talk radio pundits?And why so defensive?***I don't watch Fox News and I don't listen to talk radio, but I guess because of my own prejudices, when I think "right wing pundit" I think talk radio.

Defensive because I get tired of expressing an opinion and having someone decide that I couldn't formulate it by myself, that I must be echoing some blowhard.

I personally believe that a lot of fascist lefty types listen to right-wing talk radio. I base this on the fact that so many of them accuse conservatives and libertarians "of parroting Rush's propaganda." I don't have any idea what "Rush's propaganda" is, or Sean Hannity's, or these other guys' propaganda whom I've never heard of. They do, though, apparently.

The ad's great-convincing-if you don't know anything about what the man has actually done politically, don't know anything about what's been revealed about him during the past umpty ump months, don't know that he's dissed those white relatives both implicitly and explicitly to further his own aims....

Basically this ad will persuade someone who's been living totally incommunicado for the past 6 months or so to consider voting for Obama. Some will do so, if only as a vote against McCain. I'd venture to say the majority of people in the country will be voting against rather than for a candidate this November....

Look how sweet he's being in that video to his little white-haired grandma who's afraid of 3AM GoodNight nigs on the street. Just before he throws her under the back of a bus, he bends down and puts his still-wet-behind-the ear real close so he can hear every word she's saying to him. Puts his arm around her shoulder. Smiles that big warm/cool smile of his.

I gained a ton of respect for Hillary Clinton over the past year. Sure, she pushed the working-class angle too hard for an obscenely wealthy person who went to Wellesley. However, she never deviated from her principles. She voted for Iraq and stuck to it. She wants national healthcare and she's stuck to it. I want to say that she even stuck it out with NAFTA.

These two guys who won largely faked their way to the nomination by pretending to be something that they are not. Obama especially. I love watching the lefties have a cow now that Obama is running to the center on every issue. He was either lying before or he's lying now.

That video hit the right tone exactly, it played upon my heartstrings whilst I watched it, which is rare for me to watch all the way through one of these silly things. Yes, it played precisely upon my heartstrings, it did, like a ... like a ... like a ukulele!

It is hard to watch that just finding out about Obama's renig on his pledge to use public funds. The media is trying to play it as just another flip flop, no different than McCains vote against Bush tax cuts that he now supports. However, flip flops on policy positions are not the same. They occur because of changing facts and circumstances. Obama's flip on public funds is all about his character. He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win. Obama is willing to sacrifice his sacred honor for victory. If he wins, there is no doubt he will sacrifice the sacred honor of America too.

It is hard to watch that just finding out about Obama's renig on his pledge...

Racist!

He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win.

I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?

The public financing system is ridiculous and I'm glad Obama has learned by example (Swift Boats et al.) that the only way to beat unlimited hate speech is to raise enough money to shout right over it.

Obama is willing to sacrifice his sacred honor for victory. If he wins, there is no doubt he will sacrifice the sacred honor of America too.

Maybe it's all the baggage the GOP brings with McCain which makes me gravitate towards Obama.

Heheheheh. Good thing the Dems are scandal free! Nope, not a single thing in the news lately, not a peep that might reflect badly on the party.

Sloan said...He stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought.

ZPS said...I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?

Because you were trying to show you can't be bought? Then it turned out, hey, yeah, you could be bought. In fact, all it took was more money than you could get from the public trough.

I think it's pretty clear either of these two clowns will do whatever it takes to get elected. We don't have any idea what they'll do while in office. But I suppose you have to go back to Reagan and Carter for that....

The tranquilizing mountainy guitar picking. The open collar, the flag pin. The cross in the window frame. The sunlight. Blessed. Heartland. Working hard. No excuses. Didn't have much money. Flanked by old white people. The Golden Rule. No to the Wall Street that devastates neighborhoods. A controlling hand on the white soldier's shoulder. Troops neglected. Two white soldiers staring at each other, but not too lovingly. Cut taxes. Values. Honor. Deep Abiding Faith Country I Love.

Love the bit where the old white lady waggles her finger at him.

That is Code: In the South, it means he is a nice colored boy who can be controlled and is not a threat.

When I was in high school I was chosen to represent my school at Buckeye Boys State. From day one, Obama's oratory has reminded me of the speeches given by teen agers at that convention; nothing but empty rhetoric. That's fine for teens beginning to study government -- but not for the President of the United States.

Manipulation is a wonderful thing. It obviates the need for thinking, which can make your head hurt and the world seem all confusing. Better to feeeeeel good. Mmmmm.

It's not just what his adverts say about Obama. It's also very much what they say about his campaign's view of you, the potential voter, and how to push your buttons. How well did it work? Brain dead, Pookie? Success!

Perry Como with a tan. I wish him luck in his quest for a seat on the city council of Toadbutt, Nevada.

Being half white, he is only 50% as racist as I am by definition. I wonder if those two forces battle within him, the all-good African diversity side and the evil white man (from the US of KKKA) side. If so, how does he remain so calm?

I have to skate through treacle like this, mere propaganda for the cult of personality. In all of human history, those men inspiring cultish followings have been among the most dangerous, especially when they are wrong in their ideals, or worse when those ideals are are unclear or unspoken.

And Obama doesn't appear to be George Washington. Obama, did you chop down that cherry tree?No father, it was my staffer.

I wonder why he didn't show pictures of himself in church.Oh, yeah. Hence the windows instead. University or chapel; who can tell?

He looks like the kind of guy who would get the job at an inteview, and rise quickly through the ranks, primarily by taking credit for the work of others. Only when he reaches a position of true authority, when others rely on his knowledge and skill, when he cannot (successfully) blame anyone else for his failures, will the fraud be exposed.

Like Carter, the fraud will be exposed. But this is no mere chair of a division at GM, whose incompetent tenure might injure only a few investors. Carter blamed us, you recall, for malaise.

This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation.

From Obama’s campaign victory speech. Funny. I didn’t know this great nation needed re-making. And, if it is a great nation, why does it need to be remade? Oh, wait. Silly me. I remember now. It isn’t yet a socialist utopia with Obama as the Beloved Peoples’ Leader. Yep, that must be what he meant.

It always strikes me as a tad deceptive how Barack hangs his hat on the Kansas and midwestern values thing. His grandparents moved to the state of Wahington during his mother's formative high school years and she her identity in high school was all about being unconventional. She was an athiest and involved herself with the more anti establishment types. Hmmmm, so all this swarmy mid wesrtern values malarky is just pablum for the uninformed.

From Obama’s campaign victory speech. Funny. I didn’t know this great nation needed re-making. And, if it is a great nation, why does it need to be remade

Excellent point. Obama wants us to be in a permanent state of crisis. He wants us to apply our collective will, which we have applied for short periods of time such as World War II, to things like health care. Obama wants to abandon the western concept that we are individuals first and that the government is here to preserve our god given rights.

Zachary Paul Sire said..."[Obama stood by public funds as a way to show strength that he could not be bought. Today, he gave up that principle because he thinks the money will help him win.] I respectfully disagree. He realized midway through the primary that he was capable of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars and so he simply changed his mind! Why settle for the 85 million cap when you can bring in 850 million and fight off all the PACs more effectively?"

There's no reason at all to do so unless anything Obama says is taken serious. No reason at all if he believes that what was his solemn word last week doesn't count any more if it doesn't help him any more. No reason at all if he's dishonorable and guided only by what he thinks is going to help you attain power. Of course, that's the kind of "politics as usual" that Obama routinely decries and sanctimoniously tries to claim he's better than. It's the kind of politics as usual that Obama branded as a failure and the replacement of which was the declared raison d'etre of his campaign.

Obama declared yesterday that "the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken." Perhaps so - but what has transpired to make it any more broken since - before Iowa - he agreed to participate in the public funding system? (Moreover, when he so agreed, he added that he has "been a long-time advocate for public financing of campaigns combined with free television and radio time as a way to reduce the influence of moneyed special interests"; is he now admitting that he was wrong, and that he had been a long-time advocate for a system that is broken?) That is a threshold question that must be answered before Obama can ever be taken seriously on anything, ever again, by anyone with a functioning brain stem. And there is no answer to it; nothing changed except what Obama stood to gain. That bit of politics as normal would injure any other candidate, but for a candidate who has been so santimonious about politics as normal, it is (or ought to be) fatal.

As David Brooks - someone who has finally woken from the dazed trance of Obama's cult of personality in the last month or so - says today:

"Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.

But Thursday, at the first breath of political inconvenience, Fast Eddie Obama threw public financing under the truck. In so doing, he probably dealt a death-blow to the cause of campaign-finance reform. And the only thing that changed between Thursday and when he lauded the system is that Obama’s got more money now. ¶ And Fast Eddie Obama didn’t just sell out the primary cause of his life. He did it with style. He did it with a video so risibly insincere that somewhere down in the shadow world, Lee Atwater is gaping and applauding."

Obama's reversal on campaign finance amounts to a declaration that nothing he has ever said about anything can be taken seriously. He may retain the Potemkin village of his campaign slogans, but it would take breathtaking naivete for someone to think that there is anything to this man any more.

Al-Qadhafi thinks Obama is just lying to get elected. He's confident that this Muslim brother will come through for the middle east. Besides, Larry Sinclair will be just enough of a problem for Obama to blow, no pun intended, $200 million.

What changed is the fact that John McCain admitted he would do nothing to keep a tight rein on smear-group ads, which Obama has done, directing donations to the campaign and the DNC rather than outside 527's. McCain made it clear that he would not (or could not, as he claimed) keep a lid on the race-baiting ads in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Trevor Jackson..."What changed is the fact that John McCain admitted he would do nothing to keep a tight rein on smear-group ads, which Obama has done, directing donations to the campaign and the DNC rather than outside 527's."

Oh please. You really believe that simple-minded spin? Doubt it. And I doubt anyone else does, either - not if they're honest. Was Obama unaware of the possibility that he would come under fire by 527s when he pledged to take public financing? Doubt that, too.

Obama said that he thought public financing was important, and that he'd take it if his opponent took it. His opponent took it. He has refused to take it. And the only thing that has changed is that when he pledged to take public financing, his campaign needed to look like something new and different, whereas now, his campaign needs that image less than it wants money.

Free your mind from the shackles of this cult of personality before it is too late, Trevor.

McCain was given the choice of torture and malnutrition or violation of a vow. He chose torture and malnutrition. Obama was given the choice of financial advantage or betrayal of a pledge. He chose financial advantage. Obama is attractive and energetic, more so than McCain. But in his life and in this campaign he has always acted in his own self interest and proclaimed that self interest to be the highest ideal.

I guess it just depends on which family is expedient at the time. When pandering to the black voters in Chicago, Barak trotts out his Kenyan roots. When pandering to America in general, we get to see his Kansas roots and the African family is nowhere to be seen. Basically I think that there is something rotten at the root of Barak's personality.

The more I listen to his extemporaneous speeches the more I suspect that Barack is just not that bright.